The most influential guy in all of college sports wins again.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-0701-big-ten-nebraska--20110701,0,5568175.story

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Holy shit that is awesome.

I missed this part too.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Isn't Delaney one of the biggest reasons why we don't have a playoff?

And I love having money each month go the Big 10 channel. I love supporting that crap athletics.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Kind of, but most schools in the BCS don't really want a playoff either.
I love having money going to Lifetime and Oxygen so you can watch those. Blame cable for not allowing you to pick whatever channels you want instead of only allowing packages.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think that the best line was regarding the champagne sent to Shapiro:

"It was a regift."

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1923-1927-1928-1932-1936-1937-1938-1939
1941-1943-1947-1949-1950-1951-1952-1953
1956-1958-1961-1962-1977-1978-1996-1998
1999-2000-2009
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XXI - XXV - XLII - XLVI

At least my wife watches Lifetime.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

That's the point. I don't watch every channel I have either. You pay for my BTN and I pay for whatever channels you like.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The point is that when the Big Channel came into existence, consumers were charged more monthly for the channel. It wasn't part of some sports package where it shoud be rather it is on every cable plan (I'm looking at Direct TV). I'm sure you are aware of the debate that transpired. We should have a choice in this matter since the average person and even the average sports fan isn't going to be a high volume consumer of a specific college conference. Obviously, from your name it is clear that you are but you are the exception. There is no denying that our cable bills are higher because of the Big 10 channel. Most sports fans rank college sports lower than the pros and now you are talking about the Big 10 which is a 2nd-rate conference. It's an accomplishment for Delany but it just makes me dispise him more and ignore the Big 10.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

We should have a choice on every channel. I do not currently watch a single show on at least 50% of the channels I get. The BTN is there in Chicago because Chicago is filled with Big Ten alumni who demand it. Lifetime is there because of women. ESPN2 is there because of men. That's just how it works. Sorry that a channel I like raises your cable bill. If you listed the channels you like I'd probably not watch some of them either.
A second rate conference wouldn't have been able to pull off that network.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This has nothing to do with diversity of channels on cable packages for meeting the interest of customers. All channels don't cost the subscriber the same. Do you know that the BTN is one of the most expensive channels and it has one of the highest cost per rating? Are you aware that one of the major reasons for expansion is that the Big 10 channel gets more money whenever a new school with new viewers is added? Nebraska joining the Big 10 made the conference a lot of money for the BTN. Don't compare the BTN with O or Lifetime- Completely different dynamics are in play.

My disdain for the BTN has everything to do with Delany forcing their way onto cable packages. There are reasons why the BTN is on every Direct TV package and there was a major fight with Comcast over the cost of the channel. It was very shrewd by Delany but there is no denying that it has contributed to higher cable costs.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

I'm aware of all that. Why do you think they have to pay that? It's because the demand is there. Given what they pay for ESPN, the BTN is priced fairly.
Every channel contributes to higher cable costs. The difference is that a sizable portion of the Midwestern customer demands they carry the BTN.

It seems strange to cherry pick this one network to complain about. You pay for lots of channels you don't want. It's how it works. Blame the fact that your neighbors really want the channel badly.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Every channel doesn't cost the same amount. BTN is expensive- why do you think Comcast fought it? The reason Direct TV didn't fight it was bacause their company owns 49% of the BTN. For competition reasons, others took it on while Comcast fought it. And don't let that be the basis on your argument. No one will deny the passion of college sports fan but overall their interest doesn't warrent the inclusion on regular cable packages.

BTN should be on a sports package that people choose instead of everyone being forced to pay it. Why do I complain about this channel? We pay enough for ESPN (the highest of any cable channel) and that is where Big 10 sports should be. Plus, I hate the NCAA and what they've done to college football.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Obviously you are wrong.
Thanks for the money! Blame your neighbors not the BTN.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

If you have any ratings, I'd love to see them.

I doubt a Penn St/Iowa girls volleyball tilt is doing a high number on a Tuesday night.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

that's actually one of the only things I watch on that network...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

On football saturdays they do comparable to ESPN in the markets that matter.
That doesn't matter though. That's filler. It's just like any regional sports network. The only thing that matters is that people will switch if they don't get it and miss their games. The fact that people want to see football and men's basketball is all that matters, and enough of them want it to force Comcast to carry it.

That's true of most cable stations though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/29356/big-ten-schools-see-increased-revenue

Thanks DAC for your contribution too!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

jimmypasta watches in hi def.

Big Ten Network costs a lot because it is one of the few networks that people will change service providers over if it is not offered. That's leverage that most networks don't have.

Also, the champagne thing is about as baller as it gets.

For DAC: In one weekend of thrilling Illinois vs. Northern Illinois, Michigan vs UMass, Ohio State vs Ohio, and Purdue vs. Ball State action, the Big Ten Network drew more in metered markets than the Stanley Cup Finals games 1-6. (http://www.bigtennetwork.com/dpp/about_ ... tings-Ever).

Every time I watch Indiana play Minnesota in water polo I'm going to enjoy myself just a little bit more now.

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Fire Phil Emery

No one inside college football wants a playoff. They don't want to see money go to shit schools that draw 15,000 fans a game. Also, with television contracts for the regular season skyrocketing, they don't want to endanger that, especially since the money goes only one way. Delany gets his marching orders from conference ADs and presidents. Other conference presidents do likewise.

The average sports fan in most of the Big Ten's geographic footprint is pretty likely to be a high volume consumer of Big Ten athletics. That's why the monthly carriage rates can be so high; because lots of fans will leave their carrier if the network is not provided. Look at it this way: more people in Chicago watched the Northwestern/Auburn and Penn State/LSU bowl games on New Years Day a couple of years ago than the winter classic game at Wrigley Field. NU and Penn State aren't even all that popular in Chicago. That's pretty much entirely do to conference loyalty.

In terms of popularity (which is all that really matters for TV revenue), the Big Ten is either first or a close second to the SEC. As far as popularity, college football is either second to the NFL or third to the NFL and MLB. Probably second. It's less popular than the professional sport but more popular than pretty much every single other sport. And frankly, the rationale for paying lots of money for the Big Ten Network is much higher than for the NFL Network, since 1.) there are more live football games, 2.) there is basketball and other sports, and 3.) All of the games feature teams that people within a limited geographic area tend to care a little bit about, unlike the average Denver/San Diego Thursday night game.

It's also quite a bit of literature that suggests that unbundling cable will not mean lower bills overall. See (http://www.stanford.edu/~ayurukog/bundling_welfare.pdf), for example. Frankly, sports programming keeps most of the rest of the cable networks afloat. Very few people get cable specifically for Lifetime, et al, and with most of those shows available online there's almost no need for cable if you don't mind waiting a day. The $1.00/month BTN is subsidizing the $.10/month SyFy much more than the other way around.

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Fire Phil Emery

That's the thought, Delany has put a big NO to the playoffs.

In other words, The BTN needs more money to do it.

College Athletics

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

IB really hates hockey.

i don't mind having the big ten network; i like watching bad football sometimes.

So you compare Big Ten ratings* for home football games in their market to Stanley Cup ratings across the country?

An equal comparison is comparing those Big Ten games (5.64 ratings) with the ratings in Boston (43.4 rating game 7, 25.5 rating game 1) for the Stanley Cup finals.

By the way, I never compared the popularity of college football to hockey. Obviously, college football has many more fans.

* Those 4 games were telecast to their home markets. The BTN in Chicago area had IL/NIU, Detroit had UM/UMASS ect... All four games were played at the same time.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

The bowl payout money this year should be another record. Way to go Jim Delany!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!